A bigger BRICS: Has South Africa gained from building BRICS? South Africa’s diplomacy was on show this week as the BRICS nations met at its 15th summit in the opulence of Africa’s richest square mile, Sandton.
With only Russian President Vladimir Putin not physically in attendance – looming large virtually – the other heads of state and their delegations met, dined, and discussed before declaring the bloc would expand.
Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE were formally invited to become full members beginning 1 January 2024. The expansion of the bloc was welcomed by the existing five nations as they praised President Cyril Ramaphosa for negotiating the process on home turf.
More work will need to be done to fully realise the new bloc (not least the alphabet soup process of naming it), but the five core nations declared they “reached consensus on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures”.
The selection of these six nations will be analysed in detail before New Year’s Day, but what is clear is there is a distinct shift in the geopolitical domain with the 11 countries – which comprise about 3.9 million people and 36% of the global GDP. The fact that no European or North American countries form part of the bloc that has drawn the attention of the world does add to the lustre of the global south narrative.
By Muhammad Hussain – In-Depth Writer at News24
